# Reading Time



## Eta Carinae (Sep 11, 2014)

About a month ago, I started reading Vikram Seth's "A Suitable Boy".  For those unfamiliar with the novel, it is a story of India in the 1950s, comprised of nearly 600,000 words on 1349 pages, making it no quick read.  In that month, as engrossed as I have been, I have only read it during my long bus trips around town, meaning that so far I am not even a third of the way through the work.  It's a fantastic book (and I recommend it to anyone who isn't deterred by the prospect of such a long commitment), but it's not what I want to discuss.

My habit of only reading books during bus rides is not only reserved for "A Suitable Boy", but for every novel I've read in the past year, outside of those for school.  Naturally, this means I don't finish books very quickly, and I am often chided by my parents and friends because of it.  A book my peers may read in 2 or 3 days usually takes me 2 weeks.  It is not that I'm uninterested, or else I would have stopped with "A Suitable Boy".  Neither is it that I am slow when it comes to the actual skill itself, as I routinely finish novels for school assignments faster than most of my classmates.  It is simply because I prefer taking novels slow so as to draw out the experience, making it, in my mind, much more enjoyable.  "A Suitable Boy" takes place over a period of 18 months, and while I don't plan to take that long to read it, having it last a while has helped me to immerse myself in the writing.

When I was younger I often blazed through novels as quickly as possible, spending much of my free-time at home on them.  This worked fine, but for me it made books feel a bit more insignificant if I could finish them in a day.  My mother utilizes this strategy, but I find it amusing that she has tried and failed to read "A Suitable Boy" three times.

So, my question for you is not "How fast do you read?", but "How long does it take you to read?"  Do you try and finish books as quickly as possible, do you draw them out as much as you can, or does your method change depending on density of the book, or subject matter?

((Also, if this belongs in Miscellaneous Discussion, feel free to move it, I wasn't really sure))


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## I liek Squirtles (Sep 11, 2014)

How long it takes for me to read is heavily dependent on what book I'm reading. Recently, I read "Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie", a book my sister was assigned. I managed to finish it that same day in about six hours, mostly because the book was so amazing. The same thing happened to me with "Troy" by Adele Geras. 

I prefer finishing books as quickly as possible. A bad habit I have is that sometimes I skip things because my eyes "trip" on the page, and then I have to go back and reread a passage, but I'm totally fine with doing it. What's a little more thoroughness gonna cost you?


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## Noctowl (Sep 14, 2014)

I liek Squirtles said:


> I prefer finishing books as quickly as possible. A bad habit I have is that sometimes I skip things because my eyes "trip" on the page, and then I have to go back and reread a passage, but I'm totally fine with doing it. What's a little more thoroughness gonna cost you?


I do that several times in a row, ugh. Its kinda why I don't read anymore. That, and the fact reading makes me sleepy.

I read quite fast, but can never remember anything I read.


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## kyeugh (Sep 15, 2014)

I love reading!  I do it a lot, and I think I'm pretty fast at it.  Lately, though, I've been distracted.  I like to read books quickly but rarely can; I have to read everyday several times for a few minutes each, and I'll get through a book in about a month or two.  It's really hard for me to sit down and read for prolonged periods of time, but I've done it before.


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## Stormecho (Sep 15, 2014)

man reading is my favourite thing but now I'm on the internet a lot so I rarely read books except while I'm eating.......

but I read pretty fast - my brother is always super fascinated with it and he times me ever so often and it's like ten seconds a page. so if I sit down for a few hours I go through most books really quickly, but my habit has been to just read when I have breakfast lately so it can take some weeks now.


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## Vholvek (Sep 17, 2014)

I guess I'm kind of fast at reading, but not near as fast as Dazel. But I read the Divergent series in like a month (still only half way through the final book though).


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